Fractal Design approved itself as a reputable manufacturer of PC chassis long time ago. Nowadays, the company’s inventory embraces four lines of cases, intended for varied customer groups. Curiously enough, Arc series is a twin-brother of Define series in terms of framework, although it is differentiated by an improved ventilation. The Arc XL is a large-scale representative of the line, featuring a sleek design and offering huge integration facilities.

Basic Features

Fractal Design Arc XL is a full-tower chassis featuring 572x232x552 mm dimensions. The case is made of black steel with plastic inclusions. Its internal layout is ready to accommodate all types of motherboards, including the largest formats (XL-ATX, E-ATX, ATX, mini-ITX, micro-ATX). Storage section is rich in four 5.25-inch drive cages (external) and ten 3.5/2.5-inch cages (internal). The availability of nine expansion slots allows for the creation of various graphics and multimedia configurations.

The development of solid-state drives was intended to replace traditional HDDs and provide for faster speeds and better performance. Due to such outstanding parameters, SSDs were inaccessible for average customers, but violent growth of this market resulted in gradual decrease in prices. Nowadays 1GB costs less than $1(even with an advanced SATA 6Gb/sec interface), giving all audiences a chance to acquire high-end products for a reasonable price. Not all manufacturers manage to amaze users with their drives, but Adata, a Taiwanese PC hardware giant, always copes with this task. Its latest SSD model, SX900 256 GB, distinguishes itself from all rival products in terms of reliability, durability and performance.

Design and Integration

SSD series Adata SX900 is predestined to be installed in high-performance desktop and laptop systems, and will make benefit to all customers looking for an unbelievable efficiency of data storage subsystem. Model SX900 256 GB features 100x69x9.5 …

Tul Corporation has just introduced its own version of AMD Radeon R9 280 adapter under PowerColor brand name. Entitled TurboDuo R9 280 OC, it features 267x111.2x38 mm dimensions and comes with industry-scale boost. The card has got an improved VRM node, a solid-rock hardware base, as well as a highly efficient cooling system. No information about the release date or pricing has been unveiled so far.

PowerColor TurboDuo R9 280 OC employs The Gold Power Kit components soldered on the PCB: high-quality transistors in PowerPAK SO-8 cases, chokes with ferrite cores, and solid-state capacitors. The integrated TurboDuo cooler consists of a heatsink, three copper heatpipes and a pair of 90 mm fans. It demonstrates up to 23% higher performance and 19% lower noise level than reference cooler does.

This graphics card is based on Tahiti Pro GPU with 1792 current processors (GCN architecture), 32 ROPs, and 112 TMUs. It runs at 855 MHz nominal and 960 MHz overclocked frequency. The GPU …